Volleyball State Tournament Information

Monday, October 29, 2019

Hello OHS Community!

On Saturday evening our OHS Girls Volleyball Team defeated Watertown High School 3-2, to capture the Sectional Title. This means our girls have once again qualified for the State tournament. We are scheduled to play Sun Prairie High School in the State Quarterfinals, at the Resch Center in Green Bay on Thursday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. We are incredibly proud of our girls and would love to have as many students and families as possible, join us at the Resch Center.

The Athletic Office is offering a $20.00 package deal for students which will include a t-shirt, ticket to the game, and a bus ride to and from the Resch Center. Buses will leave OHS at 3:45 p.m. on November 1, and return between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. The cost will only be $10.00 for any girl on the JV or Freshman volleyball teams. The drive to Green Bay is long, and it will be late when the game ends, so we encourage students to take advantage of school transportation to cheer on our team.

OHS parents are invited to cheer on our team at the Resch Center.  There will not be bus transportation for parents, but an advanced ticket and t-shirt package is available!  Parents can purchase an $8 ticket and/or $10 t-shirt in the OHS Athletic office during school hours, between Tuesday afternoon and Thursday at 3:00 p.m.  Our buses will drop students off at the Resch Center and parents are invited to meet us once inside.  Parents should plan their own transportation and parking for the event.

If the team wins, they will play in the Semifinal on the evening of Friday, November 2.  If they win the Semifinal, they’ll play in the Championship on Saturday, November 3. We will continue to communicate details and additional transportation options as the week continues.

Congratulations, girls! Let’s show up and show off our Ocon Pride!

Jason

Career Ready! Preparing Our Raccoons for Life After OHS

Hi OHS Students, Families and Staff,

One of our major responsibilities at OHS is to help students prepare for a career that makes them happy and allows them to live out their dreams and find meaning in their contribution to society. At OHS, we have taken many steps to help students identify career interests and develop a pathway to help them reach their goals, including helping them find the perfect college, training program or job. The National School Superintendents Association has recently defined key indicators that would signal that a high school student is on track to be “career ready” upon graduation. The organization suggests that each high school graduate has an identified career and meets at least two or more of the following benchmarks:

• 90% attendance
• 25 hours of community service
• Workplace learning experiences
• Industry credentials
• Two or more organized co-curricular activities
• For students considering military service, passing scores on the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for each branch

Our personal goal at OHS is to ensure all of our graduates meet these expectations. This past summer, we had the opportunity to promote long-time business education teacher, Kyla Stefan, to the position of School to Career Coordinator. Her primary responsibilities are to help students identify a career and build a path to become marketable in that sector. I have asked her to share a few ways that OHS is working to support students in this transition.

Please see Kyla’s note below outlining the opportunities that exist for everyone at OHS, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to her at StefanK@oasd.org or to myself at CurtisJ@oasd.org if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

Jason

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I am excited to be stepping into the role of School to Career Coordinator after 13 years in the business education classroom. This position will allow me to continue my passion of helping students develop life and career skills while also having more time to devote to making valuable community connections that will benefit our entire staff and student body. Here’s a little more about what my new role looks like and how I can best support your child at OHS.  

One key aspect of my role is to make valuable connections with the community. There are many ways these connections are being utilized by students and staff such as guest speakers (or mock interviewers), mentors, providing authentic projects for students, allowing students workplace experiences, and helping continue to promote and support our many classroom projects and initiatives. We are always looking to expand our community connections so please don’t hesitate to contact me at stefank@oasd.org if you or your company would like to share their expertise with our learning community.  

Another key focus of my role is to help facilitate workplace opportunities for students. Some of these workplace options include our Career Internship course available to students after successfully taking the Career Portfolio class. The Career Internship course is tied to an employability certificate from the state and allows students work release to gain on-the-job skills and experiences while still in high school. Another growing opportunity is the Youth Apprenticeship (YA) program offered through the department of workforce development. Youth Apprenticeship (YA) integrates school-based and work-based learning to instruct students in employability and occupational skills defined by Wisconsin industries. Students are simultaneously enrolled in academic classes to meet high school graduation requirements, in courses that support their Youth Apprenticeship pathway, and are employed by a participating employer under the supervision of a skilled mentor.  Students who complete this program earn a state industry certification that can help distinguish them from their peers on their resumes and when applying for scholarships, schooling, or future jobs.

Besides offering direct work experiences, we look to offer students experiences to expose them to opportunities and careers in various industries.  Some examples of this include the Schools2Skills Expo for both manufacturing and healthcare offered through the Waukesha County Business Alliance and the MADE Expo for the skilled trades.  We encourage students to take advantage of these learning experiences and will continue to communicate these opportunities via career cruising and email when they become available.

I look forward to providing opportunities and experiences that will help all students develop their life skills and help guide them to be career ready when they leave Oconomowoc High School.

Thanks!

Kyla

Fall ALICE Drill: Wednesday, October 17

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Dear OHS Students, Families, and Staff

This past September, I had the opportunity to share procedures and plans that have been put in place to ensure the safety of the students, staff, and visitors to OHS. As you may know, the Oconomowoc Area School District (OASD) follows a safety protocol called ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). This training encourages students and staff to respond to an armed intruder based on the situation, rather than rely on centralized instructions in times of crisis.  

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, OHS will conduct an emergency armed-intruder practice drill. During this intensive drill, local law enforcement and individuals from our district Building and Grounds Department will be on hand to help monitor all exercises.

The purpose of the emergency armed-intruder practice drill is to provide students and staff the opportunity to practice making a well informed decision if an unsafe and unexpected situation were to happen at school. During the drill, students will be given information about a fictional armed intruder and be asked to apply the ALICE framework and decide to evacuate to a rally point, barricade the classroom or counter/distract the intruder.

The drill will take place at the end of Block B/4th hour and will occur during the Pride period. Students returning at that time from off-site locations should report to room 300. Details of the drill are outlined below.

• Classes will watch a video that reviews the ALICE framework and outlines the procedures for the drill. That video is available by clicking here.
• Information will be shared with the students and then they will need to make a decision to evacuate, barricade or counter.
• Part of the training will involve the movement of students and staff do school-designated rally points. These locations are the identified areas for them to meet in the case of a school emergency. Evacuation to a safe area away from our school building ensures that students and staff are out of harm's way.
• Classes will then debrief on the experience and fill out a self-reflection form.

As a parent or guardian, you will receive a drill-in-progress communication from the school that will be sent to the email address on file in Skyward Family Access while this drill is taking place.  Please note, this will only be a test communication letting you know that a drill is in progress. 

Our primary goal is to ensure the safety of our students and staff while taking a proactive approach if an unsafe person were to enter any of our district buildings.  

Be sure to follow the Oconomowoc Area School District’s social media channels (Facebook: @oconomowocschools, Twitter: @oconschools, and Instagram: oconomowocschools), along with the news updates on the district website at www.oasd.org. In the event of an emergency, these platforms will be used to share information and updates about the situation with families and the community.

As always, please feel free to contact me at CurtisJ@oasd.org with any questions.

Thank you,

Jason

October Update from Student Services

Monday, October 1, 2018

Hello everyone!

Please click here to view an update from our Student Services Department. This includes information regarding:

• Freshmen Parent Meetings
• Fall Job Fair
• Information on Financial Aid and Scholarships for College
• Junior Year Timeline of Supports

Thanks!
Jason